A special exhibition showcasing changing architectural styles in Taiwan to reflect political, social and economic developments in the country from 1949 to 1983 opened on Saturday at Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Titled “Modern Life, Taiwan Architecture 1949-1983,” the exhibition is intended to gauge what happened in Taiwan from just after the end of World War II to the opening of the museum, the museum said in a statement on Friday.
A model of the Chiang A-hsing Mansion built in Hsinchu County in 1949 is displayed in the first part of the exhibition to show the diverse cultures in Taiwan at the end of Japanese colonial rule.
Photo courtesy of the museum via CNA
The historic building features Western, Japanese and Taiwanese elements, said Wu Kwang-tyng (吳光庭), one of the three academics who curated the exhibition.
National Cheng Kung University’s Future Venue in Tainan (1959) and National Taiwan University’s Agricultural Exhibition Hall in Taipei (1963) were picked to highlight the introduction of US building skills and techniques when Taiwan received aid from the US from 1951 to 1965, the statement said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s efforts to introduce Chinese architectural elements in local buildings, such as the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute’s Taipei Branch (1959) in Nanhai Academy, are also featured, along with local architects’ attempts to create modern Chinese-style buildings, the museum said.
The works by local architects include the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (1972) designed by Wang Da-hong (王大閎), and the library of Taipei Municipal Jinmei Girls’ High School (1968) by Xiu Ze-lan (修澤蘭), Taiwan’s first female architect.
The landmark commercial complex Wan Nian Building (1973) in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping district is featured to showcase the urbanization and rise of consumerism in Taiwan, the museum said.
Works by foreign architects in Taiwan featured in the exhibition include the chapel building of St Joseph Technical Senior High School in Taitung County (1960) by Swiss architect Justus Dahinden.
The exhibition featuring building models, blueprints, documents and videos runs until June 30.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at